Criminal Litigation notes - BPP Law School - High Distinction Level notes!
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Criminal Justice System, Criminal Procedure Rules, Professional Conduct and Funding-
Criminal Justice system-
Adversarial system – compromised of police, prosecution and defence
This system means that it is the role of the prosecution to present sufficient admissible evidence to
persuade a tribunal (either magistrates or a jury) to convict the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
Very simple case progression you can see how the assessment of the evidence runs throughout:
Billy is arrested -To make arrest the police officer must have reasonable grounds to suspect
that an offence has been committed and that Billy has committed it. This is a low evidential
threshold. Billy is referred to as a ‘suspect’. Billy has rights whilst detained, including the
right to free and independent legal advice.
Billy is charged - In order to charge a suspect, the custody officer in consultation with the
Crown Prosecution Service (‘CPS’) must consider whether there is sufficient evidence to
charge (i.e. believe that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of Billy’s
conviction). This is a slightly higher threshold than that required for a lawful arrest. In making
this decision the contents of Billy’s interview with the investigating officer will also be
considered; it is an interview under caution and is therefore admissible in evidence against
the suspect. If charged, Billy is referred to as a ‘defendant’.
Billy will then enter the court system.
Plea - At an early stage in the proceedings Billy will be asked to enter a plea of either guilty
or not guilty. The defence is able to assess the strength and nature of the evidence as the
prosecution will provide the initial details of the prosecution case (‘IDPC’). This contains a
summary of the evidence and/or prosecution witness statements. If the evidence is strong
and a conviction is likely and/or Billy has no defence then he will be best advised to plead
guilty as this will be taken into account when Billy is sentenced. If the evidence is not strong
and/or Billy has his own plausible account of what happened then he will plead not guilty
and the matter will proceed to trial. Depending on the type of offence(s) charged, a decision
will be made as to which court Billy will be sentenced in (if he pleads guilty), or tried in (if he
pleads not guilty).
Billy’s trial
As the burden rests with the prosecution, the prosecution opens the case and calls its
witnesses. Once all the prosecution evidence has been heard, it is possible for the defence
to make a submission of ‘no case to answer’ effectively saying that the prosecution has
failed to present an arguable case. If this succeeds then the case against the defendant will
be over without Billy even having to put his side of the story and explain things to the court.
This refers back to the adversarial system; the burden of proof remains with the
prosecution. Only if there is a case to answer will the defence present its case (if actively
promoting a defence) and the tribunal will then decide whether Billy is guilty or not.
Throughout the, the CPS will be reviewing the case to determine whether there is sufficient evidence
to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction. The defence solicitor will be looking at the case to
assess whether there are weaknesses in the evidence and looking at the witnesses’ evidence in light
, of his client’s instructions. When looking at a case both sets of lawyers consider the evidence in light
of its:
admissibility;
relevance to a fact in issue;
strength;
credibility; and
weight.
The PACE Codes of Practice (‘COP’) state at note C6D: ‘The solicitor’s only role in the police station is
to protect and advance the legal rights of their client. On occasions this may require the solicitor to
give advice which has the effect of the client avoiding giving evidence which strengthens the
prosecution case.’
-
Criminal courts-
Courts of First instance-
There are two;
Crown
o Presided over by a circuit judge (or part time, recorder)
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